Family History

Martin Bellany Self and Juanita Jeannetta Riddell

In the early l920's, Martin Bellany Self left the east Texas county of Erath and traveled with an uncle to the Panhandle. Upon reaching the flatlands above the town of Quitaque, Briscoe County, community of Haylake, he decided that this was where he wanted to live and farm. He was employed by Bud Brooks and eventually rented land from the same. In this capacity, he became acquainted with a son, William Emmet (Jim) and his wife, Leona (Tone) Riddell. The two men decided to ride to a wild plum thicket where Tone was picking plums. She was accompanied by her younger sister, Juanita (Sis). The year was 1923, and Mart and Sal (the name Mart later called her) met for the first time. Mart was twenty-two years of age and Juanita was thirteen.. Over the ensuing months, the two attended socials, dances, and other entertainment of the day. It was not long before it became obvious that the two were becoming more than friends. H.L.O. Riddell, Juanita's father, was not pleased with the attention his youngest child was receiving from this foreigner from east Texas. Mr. Harve, as Mart addressed the gentleman, really had nothing against his daughter's suitor but thought that Juanita was too young to contemplate marriage.

 To try to forestall what seemed to be the inevitable, Mr. Harve sent Juanita to live with his eldest daughter, Manamma Hutsell in Lockney. Juanita was enrolled in school there and all seemed well for a short while. One day, Mr. Harve and his wife, Delia, received a registered letter from Manemma stating that Juanita had received a ruby ring from Mart and was intent on wearing it. Since the distance from Silverton to Lockney had not dampened the feelings the two felt for one another, Mr. Harve let Juanita come back home. She was not to wear the ring, but she was allowed to keep it.

  In December, 1924, Mart went to Juanita's parents and asked their permission to marry Juanita. The request was denied. Juanita was fourteen and they thought she was just too young. Mart announced to the parents that he was going to marry Juanita and he only wanted their blessing, but with or without, they were going to marry. Christmas was chosen as the date, but it was not to be. On December 30, 1924, Mart and Juanita traveled to Plainview to be wed. . When asked about verification of the age of the almost bride, Mart informed the magistrate that Juanita was a Mexican national and no proof of age was available. Meantime, Mr. Harve found out that his youngest daughter and the foreigner had gone to Plainview. He drove to the town and found the two waiting to be married. He stopped the process. Mart and Juanita informed the irate father that they intended to marry despite his objections--either now or in the future. Deciding that farther resistance was futile, Mr. Harve convinced the couple to return to Silverton and marry there. They did. They were united in marriage on December 31, 1924 , in the two-story house that stands on Main Street in Silverton. At the time it was owned by Judge Wright and he performed the ceremony for the couple. The honeymoon night was spent in a second floor bedroom of the farm house of Mr. and Mrs. H.L.O. Riddell.

  In the late 1890's, Harve Riddle and his widowed mother, Nancy Oxford Riddell, came to the Panhandle and homesteaded three sections of land. One section in the canyons they relinquished, but they kept the other two. Section 38 became the Riddell homestead and Section 24 was divided into quarter sections with each one presented for purchase to the four children of Harve and Delia Riddell.

  Mart and Juanita built a two-room house on the quarter section that he arranged to buy from Mr. Harve. The water well was dug and the couple moved into the residence March, 1925. The wedding gift to the couple from Juanita's parents was a pair of mules--only Juanita could harness one because of super sensitive ears. Livestock was bought, mulch cows, pigs and, of course, chickens. Juanita had a garden and Mart began breaking out some of the pasture land for crops. The couple worked side by side with the animals and also in the fields. This partnership in work continued throughout their lifetime together. Mart told the story of how he found out that his "little bride" knew words that were not uttered by females of the time. They had purchased some young turkeys and it had begun to rain. Turkeys are notorious for standing in the rain and drowning. Juanita was trying to drive the flock to safety when Mart came from the field. He said he heard his little wife saying as she tried valiantly to herd the turkeys to safety, "Get in there, you little shitasses. Get in there your little shitasses."

  Juanita became incensed at the birds eating the young plants from her garden. After trying all that she knew, she had Mart show her how to shoot a .22 rifle. When Mart returned to the house that same afternoon, Juanita met him with a little dead bird in one hand and the rifle in the other. She informed him that she had shot it. He said he was impressed until he went to the garden and counted the empty shell casings on the ground.

  Not long after moving into their new home, Juanita and Mart knew that the house would eventually have to be enlarged for Juanita was pregnant with the first Self child. Pregnancy was not a deterrent for this fifteen year old. A few weeks after Thanksgiving, Mart went to the Riddells' to help Mr. Harve with some carpentry work. Juanita remained at home because this was to be a short job and Mart would return soon. Mart remembered looking up and seeing his very pregnant wife astride a horse with the pummel horn pressed into her swollen belly loping across the prairie to check to see why he had not returned home. She gave birth to Delma Dean a few days later on December l2 ,1925, in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. H.L.O. Riddell. Delma was named after Juanita closest friend.

  John Leo (J.L.) joined the family February 02, 1927. He also entered this world in the home of his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. H.L.O. Riddell. There was a short discussion concerning naming this first son John (after Mart's stepfather) and Lee. O. (after Juanita's father), thus having the three initials J.L.O. Juanita said NO and that was it.

  Work continued as usual, but there was entertainment primarily centered around the Haylake school house. This was a church, community center, place for singing, and hotly contested baseball games. Mart's position on the team was as catcher--he did not want to have to run to the outfield.

  The third child was on the way. Juanita decided to "spruce up" the house for the holidays, so she decided to hang some new wallpaper. The result was Cordelia being born, again in the home of the grandparents H.L.O. Riddell, on November 03, 1928, with no fingernails, eyebrows, or toenails. She needed just a bit more time. Cordelia, who received her name from Nancy Oxford Riddell (her great-grandmother), was better known as Deal. This little girl was responsible for bringing all the contagious illness to the family and sharing.

  The farm responsibilities were growing with the family as well as the house. When money was available, construction was commenced--when money expired construction stopped. Almost everything came to a stop late one night when Mart and a friend were trying to finish haying a field. By this time, Mart had acquired a gasoline powered tractor, and in attempting to fill the machine while using a lantern for light, Mart caught fire. He was wearing, as usual, coveralls that were grease laden and he became a human torch. His companion grabbed Mart's clothing and stripped them from him. The garment was fastened at the cuffs of both hands and feet and as the clothing was finally pulled from his body, the skin was stripped from his lower arms, hands and legs. Mart was carried , by his companion, approximately one mile home. He suffered greatly from the burns and greatly from some of the treatments that he received, eg. starch placed on the running sores to dry them. Juanita said Mart was reduced to crawling on the floor to move from place to place. In desperation, Mart and Juanita went to a "witch doctor". They got an ointment that had to be spread on the wounds with a feather. It helped. One doctor bandaged Mart's hands by wrapping gauze around and around leaving a type of fist. This was not to be removed for a period of time. When the wrappings were discarded, Mart's fingers at the base by the hand had grown together giving his hands a stubby appearance. Mart recovered, but had no outer layer of skin on his legs, one arm , and right hand.

  A sidelight to this occurrence was that Juanita wrote her first check on the joint checking account. Mart opened a checking account in the First National Bank in Quitaque in 1922, and upon his marriage to Juanita, it became a joint account. Mart, until his being burned, had written all the checks. Juanita wrote her first check in 1929, signing it as she would for the remainder of her life. M.B. Self (underneath this) by wife.

  Delma was the good daughter. J.L. was--J.L. Deal was a baby and a very little one. Juanita made Deal a bed in the seat of a rocker. J.L. loved to rock the baby, but tended to get a bit overzealous and would almost throw Deal from the bed. Early one morning, Mart encountered difficulties with a cow and needed Juanita to go to the barn. to help. Juanita instructed Delma not to let J.L. rock Deal out onto the floor and left the house. J.L. immediately began to do exactly what he was told not to do. Delma told him to quit and when he didn't she hit him in the belly and knocked the breath out of him. Knocked him cold. When she saw what she had done, she dragged the unconscious J.L. behind the door assuming that no one would possibly miss him. Juanita said Delma was calmly rocking Deal and looked innocently at her when she inquired about J.L. J.L. survived to have Delma receive "whipping" after "whippings" for lying to Mart concerning some of the troubles J.L. got into.

 The 1930's ushered in the Great Depression, but as Mart once remarked, "Who could tell the difference?" It also brought to the family, Armsted William (Billy) Self, born January 14, 1930, in the home of his grandparents, H.L.O. Riddell. It is believed that Armsted was a name from Mart's side of the family. Billy was his mom's little boy. Juanita said at the supper table Billy would eat his supper, ask for a "cup towel", lay his head on this cloth on the table and go to sleep. Juanita would then put him to bed.

 By this time, the house had three fairly good sized rooms, but no bath, no running water, wood stoves for heating as well as cooking, (later kerosene was used for both) and kerosene lamps. The mode of transportation was from Henry Ford and was black. Juanita had to learn to drive and one day reported to Mart that she "missed" the brakes and ran into a metal horse tank that was filled with water. When the damaged was surveyed, there was a dent in the side of the tank. Mart surmised that Juanita had been going at a rather rapid rate to accomplish this.

  Farming was continuing with the use of a combination of horse/mule power and some machines. Juanita, Mart and the "kids" all went to the fields. Juanita recounted an episode which gives a flavor to "working in the field." Juanita was shocking feed and had Delma, J.L. and Deal on a horse that was tied to her waist with a slack rope. Bill was in a crate that Juanita moved from shock to shock. All of a sudden she heard bawling and screaming and looked back at the riders. The horse had tired of the whole procedure and had laid down thus scattering kids in every direction.

  In July, 1931, the first summer baby was born. Eva Lou was born July 07, 1931, in the home of her grandparents H.L.O. Riddell. By doing a bit of math, one can see that Juanita had five children by the time she was twenty-one years of age. Lou was named after Eva Brooks, the wife of Bud Brooks.

 Acquiring food for two adults and five children was a major production. Hogs were killed and "salted down." Tallow was rendered and lye soap was made. Vegetables from the garden were eaten fresh and the rest canned. Chickens were a staple--so much so that Billy told Juanita that if he ate one more chicken he would roost on the bed stead at night. All clothes were made by Juanita and her mother Delia. Not everyone got new clothing. When a new dress was in order, the girl who was scheduled for the garment got to go to the feed/grocery store to pick out the pattern from the flour or feed sack. Groceries purchased consisted of staples: flour, sugar, etc. Everything else was grown on the farm. Cows were milked, milk was run through a separator (hand operated), skimmed milk fed to the pigs or made into clabber for the chickens, cream stored in cans to be taken to market. Eggs in excess of those used by the family were also taken to market. The "money" from the cream and eggs paid for the groceries. The time was the height of the depression but this family never went hungry and probably ate better food than is available today. Fresh eggs, butter from real cream, fresh milk, vegetables of all kinds, chickens, pigs, some beef all without any preservatives.  

 By the late l930's, the family purchased one of its prize possessions. A l936 International Pickup--green in color. It was equipped with a windshield that would open and individual motorized windshield wipers. The Self family was ahead of its time in that this remarkable automobile became a prototype of the modern day RV. Sideboards were added and old wagon bows were installed over the bed and covered with a wagon sheet. (tarp) Two level sleeping compartments were made by laying slats parallel to the bed of the truck just below the sideboards. Beds were made on these supports and on the bed of the truck itself. The coup de grace was the chuck box which fitted the on the side of the truck. This miracle had compartments for staples, cooking utensils, etc. The box was approximately 4 l/2 feet X 5 feet X 6 inches. . It was fronted with a "door" 4 l/2 feet X 5 feet which when lowered served as a table. Trips were taken by the entire family (extended family members also went along for the ride on occasion) in this remarkable conveyance.

  When money became available, Mart continued to expand the house to hold his family of five. At one time he decided to splurge and buy a nice dinning room table and chairs for the now large kitchen. He bought a heavy walnut table with extension leaves on each end. An arm chair was purchased for the "head of the family", and a chair bought for each child and Juanita. Then, January 21, 1940, this precision planning for eating was disrupted. Zenobia Sue was born. This little lady (she weighed almost l2 pounds) was born in the home of Mart and Juanita Self. Mart named Zenobia (later called Zobie) after a relative named Madelline, Josephine, Zenoba, Isabella.

  By the late 1930's and early l940's, the older children were in public education. This was the school at Haylake approximately 2 l/2 miles from the home. The mode of transportation was horseback. According to Mart, Delma was the best horseman. She proved it when J.L. was wanting to ride in the saddle and Delma was already there. He threatened to "flank up" the horse to throw her off. She still refused. J.L. flanked the horse, off he went, and Delma rode off without him. J.L. finally got a horse of his own, but was relegated to riding the long way home after the neighboring family complained that J.L. was running their kids off the road by riding his horse wildly among them as they walked home.

  Circumstances forced the closure of the Haylake school in 1942. After a period of time with no school (Silverton didn't want the Haylakers), the five Self kids were eventually enrolled in Silverton. Transportation was furnished by Mart in that the school would not provide service for the Haylake students. Later Silverton provided bus service . Mart was at one time a trustee of the Haylake school and was proud of the institution. He always said that the youngest (Zobie) had to go to a four year college to make up for the deficiencies of not having attended Haylake.

  The war years saw Briscoe County and Haylake providing many young men for service. Mart, being a farmer, was exempt from military duty. Gas rationing was serious, but Mart, being engaged in a critical occupation, had the gas he needed for farm use. His biggest need was for tires. The new paved highways prohibited the metal lug tires and rubber tires were used on equipment as well.

  J.L. was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945, and was stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas. The family loaded the miracle vehicle to go visit J.L. and, needing replacement tractor tires, tied the two worn tires to the rear of the pickup and took them to Oklahoma City, for a retread. Feature this: 1936 International Pickup equipped as the old prairie schooners of yesteryear year, chuck box intact, two huge tractor tires strapped to the back, Mart, Juanita, Delma, Deal, Bill, Lou, Zobie and Grannie Riddell crammed where ever one could get. Only one night was spent in a motel during this trip to and from Arkansas --a trip encompassing a week to l0 days..

  Mart and Juanita bought more land in Haylake (Baker Place) and in the mid - 1940's, dug the first irrigation well. J.L. did not want to make the army his life work and was discharged in 1946. He came back to farm and had the job of "trying to make water run up hill." In August, 1946, he married a Francis community girl, Winona Faye Brown. They made their home on the Baker Place for several years before moving to the present site south of Silverton. Three children were born to this union: Joni Faye, Kathy Kay, and Marvin Dell

  More land was bought south of Silverton, but about this time the older siblings were starting to leave home for a life on their own. Mart was also farming land for H.L.O. and Delia Riddell. He and Juanita were working as hard as they ever had, but the equipment they were using had improved greatly. The livestock, garden, etc. was still a big part of their lives. Juanita was cooking big meals for a big family, but the size of the family was gradually diminishing. Until Juanita adjusted her portions, Mart, Juanita and Zobie were eating for seven.. The farm was now ablaze with light, for in 1948, electricity came to Haylake.

 Delma and Deal left for college in Plainview in 1946. Billy joined the Marines upon completion of high school in 1947. Lou went to Plainview to school in 1948.

  Delma married Walter T. Masey (Punk), of Roaring Springs, in March, 1949. Punk was in the service stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Their firstborn, George Bellany (died 1989), was born at the naval base there. Mart, Juanita, Zobie and Grannie Riddell traveled to Florida to see them. Delma, Punk, and George later moved to Silverton and Punk was engaged in farming with Mart. The second son, John Harvey was born and they moved to the Baker Place. In 1972, Delma and Punk moved to Lubbock. Delma died November, 1997.

  Deal married Orval Laroy McGowen (Mac), of Flomot, in March, 1949. Upon completion of college, Deal became a bookkeeper--later employed by City National Bank of Plainview. Mac was employed by Bell Dairy. A son, Steven Darryl was born in Plainview. Deal and Mac retired in 1988 and moved to South Texas. Mac died in August, 1999. Deal resides in Greeley, Colorado as does her son.

  Billy, a Marine Corps sergeant, served his country in the Korean conflict where he was severely wounded in 1950. He underwent numerous surgeries and was eventually discharged as a disabled veteran. Billy came home to farm and built a home for himself and his wife, Valvrie Honea, of Quitaque, whom he married in March, l951. Two sons, Thomas Warren and David Lee were born and reared at this residence south of Silverton. Ill health forced Billy to retire from farming and he and Valvrie moved to Abilene. He died September, 1999.

  Lou married Sydney Cowan in 1949. To this union was born Lexie Charlene, Roger Wayne (died 1991), and Jeanetta Ann. Lou and Sydney divorced after the birth of Jeanetta and she and the three children returned to the home place to live with her parents. Lou married Roy Alvin Younger, of Jefferson, in 1959, moved to Silverton, and added two daughters to the family, Lydia Kay and Lisa Irene. The couple farmed Mart's Baker Place and the south property until the death of Roy in November, 1997. Lou continues to live in her home in Silverton.

  In the late 1950's, the farm emerged from the "dark ages". An indoor toilet was installed as well as a telephone. Mart and Juanita were beginning to succumb the to pressures of "too much work.", and decided to lighten the load by disposing of much of the livestock. The mulch cows were replaced by stock of a beef variety; the pigs were sold, and chickens were for egg production only. Juanita virtually eliminated her garden. Mart continued to farm Delia Riddell's land after the death of Mr. Harve, but he relinquished this with the death of Delia in 1970.

  Zobie did not marry. In 1958, she entered college and became a teacher/librarian/college professor. To augment her education, Zobie traveled extensively in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. In the mid-70's, she and Mart began again the practice of farming together. Zobie lives in the Self farm house with Baby the wonder dog . After the death of her parents, she had the house renovated keeping as much of the original configuration as possible. Each night when she and Baby retire, they go to bed in the same room where Zobie was born.

  In his later years, Mart concentrated on arranging his finances so that Juanita would be "taken care of" upon his death. Bonds, CD's, etc. were purchased towards this end as well as the buying of a small house in Silverton. Since the farm house was in such ill repair, the couple moved to Silverton in 1989. They continued to commute to the farm almost every day for the love of the place was so strong that the bond could not be severed. On a beautiful day in May, 1991, Mart and Juanita went to the farm. It was after a brief rain and Juanita was gathering water from the ditch for plants. She suffered a heart attack and died. Mart continued to "exist" for thirteen months and then joined Juanita in their "Cabin in the Sky." June, 1992